Winnie Dam Campground, MN

We stayed 3 nights in the Winnie Dam Campground, next to Lake Winnibigoshish, part of the Chippewa National Forest in MN. The campground is managed by the US Army Corp of Engineers: the campsite were spacious with modern restrooms with showers. Site #1 was well located, right at the entrance within walking distance to the dam and the Mississippi river flowing out of it. It was very picturesque, but alas, the mosquitoes were unrelenting.

We quickly set up camp, put the tent canopy over the picnic table and lit mosquito coils while making dinner. The next day, we ventured out to the river and tried to fish. It was challenging to find a spot in a fast moving river with rocky embankments. We caught a few yellow perch, a fellow fishman caught a big northern pike which he gave to us. We observed another fisherman catching walleye (pickerel) so we know they are in the river.

We cleaned our catch in the very nice fish cleaning station, a shed complete with sinks, running water, cutting boards around the sides plus, most impressively, mosquito netting covering the sides. What a relief! We had pike cooked in tom yum soup and pan fried. This is the first time we ate pike, I am afraid I did not care for it -- too many bones and not as flavorful as walleye. The yellow perched pan fried were pretty good.

The next day, we drove around the area to look for other fishing spots. My brother was keen to do some bass fishing. We found a pier near the Little Cut Foot Sioux Lake where I caught a large bluegill and lots of baby yellow perch, and my sister-in-law caught a small northern pike, no keepers. Plus it started to rain, so we went back to the campground.